Ground Combat
Ground Battles are fought on systems after a fleet deploys its manpower as part of an invasion. These battles can last multiple turns, during which the attacker and defender can choose different tactics. If they are victorious, the attacker gets to decide what to do to the system. Invasion Action To start a ground battle, use the Invasion action while your fleet is in orbit around an inhabited system. Your fleet will immediately deploy its entire manpower stock to the surface and a ground battle will begin. This battle will continue until either side has lost all manpower or surrenders. Fleets can only begin an invasion if there are no hostile military ships orbiting the same system. Potential Confusion Relative to Invasion There are some elements to invasion that are not clear at first glance. Importantly, it doesn't matter how big your fleet is - only so many troops can fit onto the ground in any one turn. Essentially there is one playing field of only a few hundred soldiers at the most basic level, but upgrades can be used to widen the field for both the attacker and defender. Even if you have a million troops in orbit, you can only get that handful on the ground each turn. Next turn, Reserves in your fleet will replenish any losses, and the battle will continue. Under these conditions, it's clear that it helps to have technology that increases how many you can drop (as attacker) or field (as defender). You don't want to get into a battle of attrition where both sides keep pumping the same amount of soldiers onto the field each turn. (This can easily happen for novices, early in a game.) The goal is to have a clear majority in order to steer the battle to a relatively quick end. The reason ground battles seem to drag on forever for novices is because they have not increased the number of troops they can deploy, the tech the troops fight with, or they run out of reserves in orbit. *Defenders can use guerrilla warfare to turn one population unit into more defenders. It's a big reason why noobs might fight for many turns, even though they have an overwhelming fleet in orbit. They don't realize that the battlefield is only so big, and the size of the fleet doesn't matter, past a small point. You want to capture a planet as quickly as possible because planetary improvements are usually lost for every turn that a battle continues. Wars of attrition are bad, if you want to occupy the planet. *Pirates don't have buildings to be harmed; they don't own planets, per se. So take your time with them if you want. You can only replenish a fleet's troops by being in a friendly radius. Do this by orbiting one of your systems, or even being in an enemy system that your Influence has grown to include. Hover your cursor over a fleet to see its manpower. The three little rows of icons mean: * Heart: Health of Fleet or Ship * Guy+Dart: Manpower, and * Arrow: Movement. When Manpower has a clock by it, your ship or fleet is restoring manpower if it stays in that position. Making the decision to start an invasion is a big decision. These troops will stay on the ground fighting, even if all your orbital fleet is called away or destroyed. The orphaned army may not last long. But it's just a game. Manpower, Troops, and Deployment Limit The relation between Manpower and deployed troops is not a 1:1 ratio. Every deployed soldier, tank, or aircraft requires multiple points of manpower to deploy, and damage is calculated based on the deployed troops rather than the manpower. The amount of troops deployed per manpower can be improved by some Minor Faction assimilation traits. The composition of your ground forces is controlled empire-wise from the Military screen. Adjusting your army composition costs a small amount of Manpower, but may be worthwhile, as each troop type receives bonus damage against one other troop type. You can also upgrade your troops to increase their health, damage, and bonus by spending Dust, Resources, and Manpower. During each round of a ground battle both the attacker and defender can only deploy a limited amount of Manpower. This number can be raised with ship modules or system improvements, and is influenced by the chosen Tactics. (TBD: Table of stats and upgrades) Tactics For each turn of the ground battle, both the invader and defender get to choose from three different tactics. These tactics influence the maximum amount of manpower deployed for the battle, the health and damage of participating troops, or flat bonus damage dealt before the battle begins. Invasion Tactics Orbital Bombardment * +400-800 Damage done to Defender * +50% Improvement Destruction * +50% Population Death * -25% Manpower Deployment Limit Guerrilla Warfare * +33% Health on Troops * -20% Damage done to Defender Blitz * +30% Manpower Deployment Limit * +25% Improvement Destruction * +25% Population Death * +10% Damage done to Defender Defense Tactics Draft * +175 Manpower and Manpower Deployment Limit, scaled on system ownership Protect System * +30% Health on troops * -25% Improvement Destruction * -25% Population Death Tactical Surrender * -50% ownership rate recovery on invader * instant loses the battle Sacred Ground (Hissho only; Keii Action) * +500-800 Damage to invader * +30% health on troops * -25% Improvement destruction * -25% Population Death Outcomes After winning an invasion the invader is given three options to choose from. Option One (Not Possible with Vodyani) *Occupy: Occupies the Planet, takes time to fully convert to your cause. Used on a minor faction this gives you their trait. *Purge (Umbral Choir): Destroys all enemy colonies and replaces them with Sanctuaries. Used on a minor faction this gives you their trait. Option Two *Pillage: Steals some dust and strategic resources from the colony; the resources stolen seem to depend on what the enemy has available. The colony remains intact and restores 50% of its manpower. Your ships lose their remaining movement points. Your Empire will lose 10 Happiness for 5 turns unless it's a dictatorship. *Hunt (Vodyani): The same as Pillage except it also steals Essence presumably by eating people. No Happiness penalty. *Elevate (Horatio): The same as Pillage except it also steals population for future splicing. No Happiness penalty. *Subdue (Hissho) : The same as Pillage except it also gives a big chunk of Keii. No Happiness penalty. Subduing the same place too quickly gives much less Keii. *Abduct (Umbral Choir): The same as Pillage except it also 'rescues' all Sleepers and returns them to your home. No Happiness penalty. Option Three *Raze: Starts the destruction of the colonies, the time taken to erase them depends on the number of remaining pops and improvments. During this time anyone can colonise the system to move in and halt the Razing. Your Empire will lose 15 Happiness for 5 turns unless it's a Dictatorship. *Consume (Cravers): Just like Raze except you gain resources while you eat everyone. No Happiness penalty. *Penance (Vodyani): Like Raze but you also gain Essence by turning the system into a hunting ground. No Happiness penalty. (Editing Note: It's a toss up as to whether the Vodyani or the Cravers are the biggest assholes.) Category:Tutorials Category:Game Systems